Biology

Physiology

Darkrai's legs

Darkrai is a black, shadow-like creature. It has a small head with a white fog-like ghostly substance billowing from its head covering one of its bright blue eyes, with the portion on its face resembling hair. It also has a red spiky growth around its neck. It has skinny arms and long black tatters hanging from its shoulders. It also has black, claw-like hands. It has the slight appearance of an hourglass figure and appears to be wearing an old, ripped cloak. It normally doesn't have any sort of legs, but it is able to extend stilt-like appendages in their place. In self-defense, Darkrai also appears capable of retracting its head and white "plume" into the pit atop its torso fringed by the aforementioned red growth.

Gender differences

Darkrai is a genderless species.

Special abilities

Darkrai is known for its ability to put people and Pokémon in endless nightmares only stopped if close to a lunar wing from Cresselia. It can become a shadow and escape danger or contact of humans, but it is still capable to take damage by special attacks (e.g.: Thunderbolt, Flamethrower, Water Pulse, etc.) in this state. It is also capable of little human speech. In The Rise of Darkrai, it was shown its power was little of that of Dialga and Palkia.

Behavior

This Pokémon "inhabits" people's dreams and causes them to have unending terrible nightmares. In Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum, it is stated that the only way a person can wake from one of these nightmares is to be exposed to the Lunar Wing of Cresselia. Contrary to popular belief, this "unleashing of nightmares" is in fact a defense mechanism, rather than something of malicious intent. Also, in the Anime at least, these nightmares are not never ending, as most victims are able to wake up normally, though it appears if Dark Void is used they cannot until the attack wears off.

In the 10th movie, Darkrai tried to protect Alamos Town from being destroyed by Dialga and Palkia and sacrificed itself in the process, although by the end of the movie it was revived. Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness, however, portrays a Darkrai with a much more evil character, who wants a world enshrouded in darkness, going to the edge of almost destroying time and space to accomplish that. However, after it is recruited, it shows surprising loyalty, even going as far as to say that it will never leave the player, no matter the danger. This is mainly due to the fact that Darkrai lost its memory when it was attacked by Palkia while trying to escape through a dimensional hole. It is worth noting that this Darkrai's personality after being attacked by Palkia is similar to the original Darkrai, who was very loyal to those it cared about.

After the battle with Darkrai on Newmoon Island in Platinum, the following text appears on screen:

"...A voice called out from somewhere...

???: DARKRAI... Your power is strong. Though you don't will it, you make people and Pokémon around you see terrible nightmares... That is why you came here... Newmoon Island... There is no one but you here... There is none that can be drawn into your nightmare... If anyone were to fall into a nightmare, the Fullmoon Island is close by... ... ..."

This reveals that Darkrai chooses to inhabit Newmoon Island due to its immense, uncontrollable power, as well as because of the island's closeness to Fullmoon Island, the home of Cresselia, who is capable of healing those inflicted by Darkrai's nightmares. Though it is never revealed whose voice this was, it is possible that it was the effect of Cresselia's psychic powers. It also is speculated to be the voice of Arceus. The fact that Darkrai chooses to protect others from its power is similar to Lugia and how it resides at the bottom of the sea in deep slumber in order to not cause unintended damage.

Other

Darkrai made its anime debut in Sleepless In Pre-Battle!. Unlike the Darkrai in the film, this Darkrai was causing nightmares, much like in the games. According to Officer Jenny, it comes at a certain time every year. In the episode, however, it came earlier due to it being lured by Team Rocket's machine that was causing nightmares. Cresselia is normally in the same place as Darkrai to stop it giving nightmares but due to Darkrai's early coming, the people in Canalave City had nightmares for several days. One night, it was concealing itself when Cresselia used its abilities to reveal it from the darkness. The two then battled and Darkrai hid itself once more in the shadows.

Darkrai later reappeared in the Platinum chapter, where it was revealed that Sird had released it into the Distortion World. Charon later took control of the Pokémon, and, along with Giratina and Heatran, used it in a battle against the other Sinnoh legendary Pokémon in the climax of the chapter. Darkrai was later freed from the control of Charon, and departed to parts unknown.

In the TCG

Other appearances

Trophy Information

A Pitch-Black Pokémon. It becomes active on nights of the new moon. This legendary Pokémon has the power to lull people to sleep and fill their heads with dreams. Proverbs say that Darkrai will make people have terrifying dreams on moonless nights. A Dark-type Pokémon, Darkrai uses the Dark Voidmove, along with Embargo, which stops foes from using held items.

Game data

NPC appearances

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness: Darkrai is revealed to be the main antagonist of the game in the post-game story. He wants to cover the world in darkness, and was behind the collapse of the Temporal Tower in the main storyline of the game. His interference is also the reason the player was separated from Grovyle and turned into a Pokémon. In the post-game story, he turns his attention to distorting the fabric of space to cover the world in darkness.

Sailor Eldritch's son says "Dar... Dark... Is watching me..." in his sleep before the player cures his nightmare. It is assumed that he is talking about Darkrai, as it is known to give its victims horrific nightmares.

If Darkrai was the cause of the sailor's son's nightmares, it can be assumed Darkrai is aware that the player cured the boy using Cresselia's Lunar Wing. When the player takes the Member Card to the Harbor Inn, the innkeeper (presumably an illusion created by Darkrai) states that he has been waiting for the player's arrival.

In the early Japanese versions of Diamond and Pearl, Darkrai can be caught with the Surf glitch. However, this glitch was fixed in other language versions. Another glitch has been discovered that allows players of other language releases to reach Darkrai without the Member Card.

This has been remedied in Pokémon Platinum, however, as Darkrai itself will not appear on the island without the event ticket.

Origin

Resembling a shadow, Darkrai's appearance suggests it is based on the concept of nightmares. It may have been inspired by the old Arabic myths about genies (or jinn) or the Bogeyman. Darkrai could also be based on the concept of Morpheus, the Greek god responsible for shaping dreams.

Name origin

Darkrai is a combination of dark, and 暗い kurai (dark) or "rai" (Hindi for king).